Rolling Romance
Rolling Romance is the third segment from the seventy second episode of Garfield and Friends. Synopsis After Jon's car crashes into the house's garage, he buys a secondhand car from Madman Murray, only for the car to become attracted to him. Plot Garfield and Odie are sitting inside, both excited to watch the premiere of King Kong Gets a Mohawk Cut. Odie hands Garfield the remote, which fails to change the channel, frustrating Garfield. He soon realizes why it is not working— he actually has the garage door opener, and his frantic button pressing has caused Jon to crash through the garage door. Jon walks into the room in a daze. He laments to his pets that he totaled his car and cannot afford a new one; to make matters worse, he has a date with his new girlfriend, Marsha, scheduled for that night. At that moment, a commercial comes on, advertising Madman Murray’s new used car dealership, in which Madman Murray makes fallacious claims about the price of his cars. Jon is the only one who actually believes this commercial, and declares his immediate departure to Madman Murray’s. Garfield and Odie run after Jon, neither of them trusting the ad and hoping to stop Jon before it is too late. As they leave, Odie reminds Garfield of what Madman Murray previously did to Jon. Unable to stop Jon, Garfield and Odie find themselves at Madman Murray’s, both spectating in uncertainty as Madman Murray shows Jon a pink convertible named Abigail. Garfield takes this moment to educate Odie on the true meanings behind misleading salesman lingo. Madman Murray’s assistant tries to interrupt the sale at that point, with Madman Murray ignoring him. He proceeds to show Jon a quote so high, he faints. Jon ends up buying it anyway, although he is still upset about the high payments. Before they go, Madman Murray informs Jon about the computerized voice alert system installed in the car’s dash, which instructs Jon to fasten his seatbelt and turn off his headlights, among other things. Jon immediately loves this voice alert system, while Garfield is unimpressed with it. After the three leave the dealership in Abigail, Madman Murray’s assistant expresses his concern about how the car’s previous owner traded it in when it fell in love with him. Madman Murray dismisses the notion. As they return home and get out, Jon is grinning from ear to ear, saying he really loves his new car. He is about to walk inside when he swears he hears the car’s voice alert say his name and tell him it loves him too. He decides he must be hearing things and starts to prepare for his date with Marsha. Garfield bets Odie two cheeseburgers that Jon is not home by 9:15. That night, Jon takes Marsha out on a date at Chez Louis. As they are getting out, Marsha calls Jon’s new convertible very attractive, and Jon lovingly tells her that so is she. The voice alert responds to this in an unusual manner—it tells Jon that his date dyes her hair. Although Marsha is clueless as to where the voice is coming from, she is not amused, and is swift to refute the voice’s claims. The voice alert then insists that Marsha is lying, causing Marsha to get out of the car and start to walk away. Jon runs after her, growing increasingly puzzled as the car continues to insult Marsha until she storms home in a rage. Jon finally deduces that something must be wrong with his car, which becomes autonomous and tells Jon that Marsha was not good enough for him and that his car loves him. Putting the pieces together, Jon breaks down and makes a mad dash for home, as Abigail chases him. He makes it inside and breathlessly tells Odie and Garfield about everything that happened. His pets conclude that his story is quite silly, yet not unbelievable. Having lost the bet, Odie gives Garfield his two cheeseburgers. Jon skids into his room and slams the door, only to find Abigail inside. She continues to pursue him, slowly pinning him to the door, until he gives up and climbs up a lamppost across the street. Abigail quickly finds him and resumes begging him to marry her. Garfield manages to convince Abigail that a human and a car are incompatible. This leads Abigail into reminiscing about her “true love”, which deserted her long ago. Garfield starts asking her for more information. Later that night, they pull into the parking lot of the municipal airport, where Abigail shares a heartfelt reunion with Steve, the airport’s PA system. Garfield gushes a little over the fact that they had a happy ending, right before a policeman drags Jon away for parking in the white zone. Jon tries in vain to tell him all about how his car fell in love with him. Garfield notes that it was almost a happy ending, and he and Odie abandon Jon at the airport to go “have a joyous reunion with some pasta”. Characters Main Characters *Garfield *Jon Arbuckle *Abigail *Odie Major Characters *Madman Murray Minor Characters *Marsha *Madman Murray's Assistant (voiced by Gregg Berger) *Steve (voiced by Gregg Berger) *Cop (voiced by Brian Cummings) Trivia *At the start of the episode, Garfield says to Odie that "Jon forgot what Madman Murry did to him on last week's show." Cultural References *The episode is loosely based on the book/movie Christine. *Steve can be heard announcing “The white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only” and “No stopping in the white zone.” Both are quotes from the PA system of the 1980 film Airplane! Goofs *Near the end of the episode, Garfield erroneously labels Abigail (a sports convertible) a “late-model sedan”. Category:Garfield and Friends episodes, Season 4 Category:Garfield and Friends